Audio

Story

Ghost Ship Writers paints a poetic picture of honoring the writers of history and comparing the process of writing a song and writing a book. The words “Ghost Ship” refers to authors of the past.

The song starts with the refrain of “Chasin’ ghost ship writers up a tall magnolia tree” – a poetic reference to thinking about or pursuing the works of authors of the past . The next line of “They were driven to their writings – Was their hands that set them free” implies that all authors are driven to create which they do by writing down their words (or music) with their hands. The third line of “Searchin’ for a word that fits – While they look inside their isles & wits” is the never ending process of searching for just the right word or phrase that gives the thought or mental image you are trying to create – whether in a book or a song. Where you search is in your own frame of reference in your mind and your own personal experiences which is represented by the words “inside their isles (the island of personal experiences) and wits (your mind). The last line of the refrain “And they never – And they never reach the end” implies that when you create a book, poem or song – that work of art never dies – it never reaches the end.

The first verse “Oh I was safe in salty Saint Marie – Off the coast of what was once a sea” sets the geographic location for the song story of Sault Ste. Marie Canada. The “off the coast of what was once a sea” is a bit of poetic license for Lake Superior which abuts the Western side of Sault Ste. Marie – not sure if it was ever a sea – but it is big enough to be one. The second line “And the wind And the rain And the rocks – And the sea gulls proud” – refers to what you would experience on the Western side of Sault Ste. Marie during any type of storm or rain event – it sort of paints a mental picture of that area. The third line “We were both engaged in writing lies – Me a song and him a book so wise” compares the processes of writing a song and a fiction based book. The fourth line “That the world would stop and cherish – Another paperback on the shelf” – is perhaps a bit of a sarcastic reference – when you write a new song or a book, the author usually feels it is going to be a great work of art – but often only ends up as another paperback/or song on the shelf. The fifth line of “We were both deceived in what we saw – But we both agreed on the strength of the call” relates to usually being deceived that the book or song you are creating is going to be a great work of art – but you always know that one cannot resist the call of creating said song or book. The last line of “And to make – Something new where nothing was” – relates again to the creative process – whether it is a new song or a new book/poem the author creates an ever-lasting piece of art (from your mind) that did not exist before.

The second verse starts “Before the greats of Monday – Turn to Tuesday afternoon” – refers to the aging of the authors of the current time or the authors of the past. The second line of “There’s a bridge on which they travel – With good fortune and the moon” – refers to the metaphysical bridge of time and the fact that words, poems & songs can bridge the gap between the centuries (sort of a time machine). The mini Bridge first line of “Read the words of William Penn – And a thousand other ancient men” refers to when one reads the words of authors of the past (Chose William Penn because he was a prolific author for his time and his name fit really well for the song). The second line of “And their lines – Are the proof of what they were” – meaning when you read the words of authors of the past – their words give you a glimpse of what they were and how they thought of the world across the centuries of time.

Story

A lively and reflective song about saying goodbye to a friend who is moving far away. The song has a catchy guitar laden introduction & middle with reflective lyrics and a solid harmony filled chorus.

Some of the sentiments are poetically set forward in the verses such as: “Pretend – we’ll pretend till we meet again…that our worlds are the same as when….we ran life often…side by side”, and “Feelin…the feelin’ that you’re reelin’..concealing some of your reason…don’t let needless worries fill your mind…so it goes…its sometimes empty and drawing closed….gather round cause the future knows…you’re with us as we are part of you”.

The refrain is: “Set out a course for tonight….send out a call and do it right….when its one for the road….we’ll have some laughs and say goodbye….don’t forget your season is longer…don’t you cry”.

A message from the lyrics is that life is long so don’t cry when you are leaving one phase and moving to another – it is ok to feel sad and reflective, but remember everything you have experienced is part of you and those you have shared it with throughout your entire life.

Story

“Time For A Change” is a reflective and positive love song laden with stereo acoustic guitar, tasteful harmony and a strong bass line. The song tells the story of a young man who puts a silver dollar in a slot machine and hits the jackpot – he immediately decides to leave Los Angeles and take the next bus to Stowe Vermont where a love of his lives. The song is very positive of Vermont and New England throughout.

The song goes on to describe the beauty of walking with his love on the frozen river and breathing the chilled New England air while just enjoying being alive and in love. The song then describes a small country store with a big black stove that is raging hot and he reflects on how easy it is now to remember what he had forgot – meaning his love and the Vermont lifestyle.

A lively piano and a reverb laden electric guitar support a strong bridge instrumental interlude.

The last verse projects farther into the future where he and his love are still walking on the frozen river and reflecting on how the years have passed and their love has grown with comfort & content – and he still thanks that silver dollar that he spent so long ago.

Copyright 2012 John Curtis Anderson - Words & Music by John Curtis Anderson

Story

Corporate Greys is a song about taking control of your life and following your heart. One of the key lines of the chorus is "Corporate Greys & neon days....it's quite a fight not to spend your life that way" - meaning it is so easy to be trapped in a corporate job in a cubicle with fluorescent lighting and to spend your entire life in such an environment - it takes real courage to break away.

The story of Corporate Greys is a young couple live and work in New York City - they decide to give it up and move to Idaho - even over the criticism of their friends ("some freinds said we were irresponsible...to leave careers full of promise & spoils" - "but there's a whole larger realm that we're thinking of...One that says you do just what you feel").

The first verse talks of "Crossin' Wheatfields off the coast of Canada...Headin' for a town in Idaho" - this is just a visual from driving from New York to Idaho and crossing farm land with wheatfields perhaps in Montana, or Minnesota or the Dakotas - all of which are south of Canada - which is the meaning of "Off the coast of Canada". The first verse continues with a visual we have all seen when driving across the country - "small towns & strange signs along the way - sure glad we had the nerve to go" coupled with how glad they are to have made the decision to escape.

The chorus is really the banner line(s) of the song - "And it's just for the freedom of life.....Not for the wrong or the right...Corporate Greys and Neon Days....It's quite a fight not to live your life that way" - meaning that leaving the big city high stress Wall Street world for small town Idaho is not about what is right or wrong...just about taking control of your life and choosing to do what feels right and gives you "freedom of life".

The third verse is reflective as they get closer to Idaho - "Comin up on sixteen miles to Yellowstone - Country sure looks different round here.....But there's a Jersey bus and the midtown rush and yellow air....and the tragic eyes of those who would not leave" - reflective as sixteen miles from Yellowstone sure does look different than New York and then they think about New York City - the bus to New Jersey, the traffic in midtown New York, the polluted (yellow air) air and the tragic eyes of those who would not leave and take the plunge they took.

Lyrics

V1 - Crossin' wheatfields off the coast of Canada Headin' for a town in Idaho

Small towns and strange signs along the way Sure glad we had the nerve to go

Refrain - And it's just for the freedom of life Not for the wrong or the right

Corporate Greys and ne-on days It's quite a fight not to spend your life that way

V2 - Some friends said we were irresponsible To leave careers full of promise and spoils

But there's a whole larger realm that we're thinking of One that says you do just what you feel

Repeat Refrain

Guitar Instrumental

Repeat Refrain

V3 - Comin' up on sixteen miles to Yellowstone Country sure looks different round here

Story

"Take It Slow" is a gentle song about a man that meets a girl on a train when he is 21. They fall in love and have a relationship, however it ends and she moves away leaving him in Arizona. The refrain repeats his philosophy of "taking things slow" and when she moves on to another man - he tells her "he'll be back when he goes". The stroy continues of him finding a place near the border and her moving to Ohio and being happy & settled down. He thinks (probably often) of leaving and seeking her out, but every time he decides to just stay put and to "take it slow". The last verse continues that he may be crazy but he decides to just stay in Arizona and hope that she has found her home - perhaps contacts her and wishes her the best and to let him know if she is ever in a jam or needs help but he won't come see her unless her new relationship ends. Instead he will just "Take It Slow".

Story

I originally wrote this song in the late 1970's and recently updated the lyrics and music and decided to release my recording as a single. It is a tribute song to Arkansas and living in Northern Arkansas say near Eureka Springs which is also known as the Switzerland of Arkansas for it's very hilly and picturesque terrain.

Story

Steamboat Town

A song about living in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and playing in a band that played the Ski Town circuit in Colorado. I have a long history with Steamboat Springs that goes back to 1959 up through multiple skiing trips there in the 1970’s. I remember well watching Franz Klammer win the Olympic downhill in 1976 from a bar in Steamboat Springs - the kind of bar this song is about. The first verse line of “friends & food and a warm fire burning till dawn” really is a general minds eye recollection of being there in my 20‘s.

Story

Butter Spreadin’ Baby

A pure country rock song intended for the last set at a rockin’ country bar. It is a song about a truck driver’s waitress girlfriend (The Butter Spreadin’ Baby) that works at a truck stop in Western Kansas - it is a pure fun song and the motto would be “Sometimes…greasy ain’t that bad” I intended for the song to have a great country dance beat and it includes a good bit of humor such as “liking cold lard on top of apple pie”.

Story

Columbia Bay

A tragic ballad and my most complex and perhaps best story. A young man is in the US Navy in 1852 and has left his fiancé back home in Boston - story starts as he is writing her a letter on June 28th 1852 where he tells they are sailing into Portland, Oregon after almost crashing on the rocks off the coast of Oregon in a storm - the wind just stopped just before they hit the coast and he is feeling very lucky. He is thinking of her safe at home in Boston and sitting in front of the fire taking it easy. Second verse picks up in 1853 with him writing a letter to her - he explains they just came off of a tour on the Barbary coast of San Francisco where they got caught in a fight and he gets wounded in the arm although he will be all right. He obviously has not received any mail since he has been at sea because the Captain says the mail might catch them in the next couple of months. He tells her he dreams of her most nights and again he is comforted that she is safe, warm and well at home in Boston. The third verse is 1854 as they are sailing into Boston Harbor (Boston’s Door) and he can’t believe it but the mail never caught up to them. When the long boats come to shore he does not see his love - just her older brother with a look so sad in his eye - there he finds out his love died on June 26, 1852 of pneumonia. The irony of the story is 2 fold - he is so comforted by her being safe and warm at home while he is at sea and fighting storms and pirates when in fact she died 2 years ago - the second irony is that she died on June 26, 1852 - a day or so before his ship was caught in the storm and almost crashed on the Oregon coast - the inference is that his dead love roared overhead as an angel and stopped the wind and saved his life and his ship - although when he returns home safe and finds her dead - he wishes he died on the rocks. A side note - my daughter was born on June 26, 1988 - 10+ years after I wrote the song.

Story

Thanks for Being You

A song that follows a man through life and how thankful he is for his partner “Ann” - good refrain and harmony - one of my favorite hooks - “Then you came along & its your heart that’s made me strong - I can feel it Ann - thanks for stayin’ - thanks for bein’ you. The last verse reveals that Ann dies before him and he feels it is her heart that keeps him strong.

Story

Ghost Ship Writers

The song Contrasts the creative process of writing books and songs - creating something new where nothing was before. I think the words flow well and paint a decent poetic mood or picture. A good example of The Byrds meets Jimmy Buffett.

Story

On The Plains

A love song about finding the “one with your song in her heart” - good harmony on the refrain. One message is that love is the same on the plains or the mountains, or in one city/country versus another.

Story

A lively and reflective song about saying goodbye to a friend who is moving far away. The song has a catchy guitar laden introduction & middle with reflective lyrics and a solid harmony filled chorus.

Some of the sentiments are poetically set forward in the verses such as: “Pretend – we’ll pretend till we meet again…that our worlds are the same as when….we ran life often…side by side”, and “Feelin…the feelin’ that you’re reelin’..concealing some of your reason…don’t let needless worries fill your mind…so it goes…its sometimes empty and drawing closed….gather round cause the future knows…you’re with us as we are part of you”.

The refrain is: “Set out a course for tonight….send out a call and do it right….when its one for the road….we’ll have some laughs and say goodbye….don’t forget your season is longer…don’t you cry”.

A message from the lyrics is that life is long so don’t cry when you are leaving one phase and moving to another – it is ok to feel sad and reflective, but remember everything you have experienced is part of you and those you have shared it with throughout your entire life.

Story

Bluewinds

A song with good harmony on the refrain and words that paint more of a poetic mental picture and mood than they do tell a story, although it is about “returning homeward along to Aberdeen” - which could be any of the numerous US towns with that name - or the namesake Aberdeen in Scotland.

Story

Sadly for Annie

This is somewhat of a Bluegrass song with a great Banjo component and good lyrics and harmony. The message is “despite relationship heartbreaks - you never lose yourself - so realize this and you’ll see - you will soon be free - and you’ll find that everything’s better all the time”. The last verse was my attempt at the time to always put something “heavy” in each song - today I almost deleted it and replaced it with a repeat of the first verse for this CD, but in the end left it as written.

"Ghost Ship Writers" single released Nov 25th

My new "Ghost Ship Writers (2013 Remix)" single was released Nov 25th 2013 by CDBaby and is available on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, CDBaby and 25 other online music sites. Check it out and follow me on my Facebook Musician Page - link below.

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CD Release

Steamboat Town CD was released on September 15, 2011. Physical CDs and downloads can be purchased now at CDBaby.com. CD and individual track MP3 downloads are now available from Amazon.com, iTunes and most other online sites. Link to CDBaby follows: